Parodies Lost is the name of my personal blog, a name chosen because the fine art of parody is impossible in the modern world. When Republicans start blaming the current economic crisis on a man who's been in the Oval Office for fewer than 60 days, when the country goes berserk over admittedly gnarly bonuses for AIG that represent a fraction of a percent of what it's costing to fix the economy, when half of Americans refuse to believe in evolution... what chance does a poor parodist have?
You couldn't make this shit up.
Even the Washington Post has joined the "Through the Looking Glass" AIG Outrage Brigade in a front page story yesterday, "Anger Over Firm Depletes Obama's Political Capital." Joined by cable news outlets from the left and right, pundits have turned a problem into a national disaster with Obama being the chief victim. His political base is crumbling. His ability to effect change is crushed. His good name besmirched. His birth certificate has been withdrawn. His only recourse resignation, however one chooses to define it.
Should he have? Would he have? Could he have?
Give it a rest. Consider the cards Ol' Jug Ears has been dealt. You try winning every hand with nothing higher than a seven. Only a fool expects to succeed all the time in a crisis. Having spent a career in crisis management advising a wide range of clients, if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that that success is measured more in minimizing the idiocy than acing every billiard ball that comes over the net.
The always brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her must-read examination of Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt's lives during World War II, No Ordinary Time, cites I.F. Stone, one of the great political commentators of any age, who writes of Roosevelt's performance in 1941.
The president has much with which to be pleased. The task of mobilizing a...democracy for war is like trying to drive a team of twenty mules, each stubbornly intent on having its own way. Only by continual compromise with the ornery critters is it possible to move forward at all. Examined closely, by the myopic eye of the perfectionist, Mr. Roosevelt's performance in every sphere has been faulty. Regarded in the perspective of his limited freedom of choice and the temper of the country,...the year's achievements have been extraordinary. [Emphasis added]
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baritone
Mark,
The hysteria over AIG and every hiccup coming from the Obama administration is, as you note, being scrutinized with a jeweler's loupe.
The losers are so outraged at their loss, so hemmed in by the audacious ineptitude of their erstwhile leader, that they can't contain themselves. Many truly do want Obama to fail, and fail miserably. They passionately want their belief that Obama is a dud, an empty suit giving flowery speeches to be realized.
In that effort, they latch upon every nit they can perceive, dissecting it down to the atomic level in hopes that they will find the one with which they can smash Obama to smitherines. A lot of people truly hate the man. While race no doubt enters into the picture - perhaps blots out all else - most simply hate the fact that Obama displays so much greater intelligence and grace than anyone on the right could hope to muster. They watch him and see arrogance or condescension, when what they're really seeing is a confident, educated, articulate man fitting more and more comfortably into a difficult job.
As you note, he entered office with a miserable hand left him by the outgoing dolts. He was left only the vague hope of drawing a few good cards from a stacked deck.
Has he screwed up? Yeah. He is a rookie, afterall. He has stumbled dealing with some of the nuts and bolts. This phase won't last long. In time - probably within a few months at most - Obama will have found his rhythm. Bush never figured out how to walk and chew gum at the same time.
No one should even suggest that McCain would have handled things to this point any better than Obama. As time goes along, for every step backwards he takes he will be taking increasing numbers of steps forward.
2 - The Obnoxious American
Damn right McCain would have done better. Starting with not pushing through an extreme liberal adgenda, after running as a moderate and ASSURING America that he wasn't an ideologue and wouldn't get caught up in partisan childishness. No, not caught up but apparently specializing in.
Not to mention that Obama's pursuit of his ideology comes at the cost of virtually everything else, such as the AIG bonuses, and cutting vet benefits. I guess that's all Bush's fault. Sorry guys, but as you were so quick to remind during the GWB days, the buck stops at the oval office.
3 - Baronius
I disagree with a lot of this article, and Baritone should be ashamed for bringing up race. But I appreciate the spirit in which it was written. This is the guy we've got for four years. Obama hasn't dishonored the office, and on that basis deserves our respect. Those of us who oppose his policies must not personalize it. We have to work with him gladly when we can, oppose his policies on principle when we have to, and always hope for the best possible outcome.
BTW, Goodwin quoting Stone? You couldn't find a more neutral example, like Chris Matthews quoting Lenin?
4 - roger nowosielski
Bar,
Why do you object to B-man's comments?
BTW, I responded to your comment on my thread re: discussion with Ruvy (Woody Allen).
Roger
5 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Sorry guys, but as you were so quick to remind during the GWB days, the buck stops at the oval office.
Yes Sir...You are Correct!!
Obama hasn't dishonored the office, and on that basis deserves our respect. Those of us who oppose his policies must not personalize it.
Holy fucking Kool-Aid Batman!! Kinda like Clinton's honoring of the oval office with BJs from an intern...No Dishonor?! Are you kidding? Obama didn't just lie to get in office but he retracted every single word that spewed from his suck in less than 60 days! Sure, I won't take it personal when this schmuck swindles the taxpayers...
Hey, but he's better than Gee Dubya....yea,right!
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Man, I remember when my friends looked at me weird when I mentioned Nader.. That guy would have been a real change. For good or bad, he would've had to work his ass off because he didn't have an assumption of greatness from party history...
7 - Baritone
Baronius is a true believer that racism no longer exists in the US. Therefore, it is utterly shameful for me or anyone to even suggest that there is.
Of course, Baronius lives in conservative la la land wherein they have convinced themselves of such blather. I guess since he hasn't looked out his window and seen any klan rallies of late, he assumes that the melting pot has finally coalesced into a fine ecumenical brew in which we all just get along.
B
8 - Clavos
...the melting pot has finally coalesced into a fine ecumenical brew in which we all just get along.
How boring.
Fortunately, it'll never happen...
9 - The Obnoxious American
Btone,
I don't believe racism is a factor, which isn't the same thing as it not existing at all. I am willing to bet Baronius feels the same way.
Of course racism exists. As a Jewish American, I can tell you that anti-semitism is alive and well. (Please refrain from making either of the following two comments: Jews aren't a race; anti-semitism doesn't exactly mean anti-Jew).
Watching "Hard Time" last night, I was amazed at how many Aryan type prisoners had stars of david on their bodies, though it looked like a mockery of the star of david. What was even more interesting was how many black prisoners had similar anti jew tats on their bodies. Don't they realize that they don't and shouldn't have much in common with their white supremecist prison mates? I guess they can unite in their hatred of my kind.
10 - Dr Dreadful
Obama didn't just lie to get in office but he retracted every single word that spewed from his suck in less than 60 days!
Such as?
11 - roger nowosielski
#8,
I sure hope not. It would the most boring scene indeed.
12 - Mark Schannon
Baronius, I wish others had your spirit. I don't know about the race card. It's kind of hard to avoid, but the irrational right-wing attacks seem to have more to do with a traditional fear that anyone with some liberal tendencies is out to turn America into some socialist/communist state.
I tend to agree with Baritone about the other reasons the right hates Obama so much. He is incredibly intelligent, confident, human, and real. He's also up to his ass in those pythons moving north from Florida (check out The Daily Show from last night.) And he is a rookie.
But if we don't temper the hysteria, we're all going to be python lunches. No one, absolutely no one has the answers to the economic mess we're in. So we've got to experiment, which means some will work & some will fail.
I'm as happy being wildly irrational about my opponents as the next person, but there comes a time when you gotta realize you must stop...for your own sake.
E.g., Brian's rant. Obama's doing exactly what he said he'd do...except that he's been more moderate on foreign policy. And a lot of his economic experts are hold overs from the Busher days.
Oh...and the I.F. Stone quote. I just happened to be reading the book & came upon it. Forget the source--that's ad hominem logic. The words are brilliant.
And that's the truth.
(Oh, and no help with my Kindle2 Campaign? Come on, people. Advice? Hints? Money?)
In Jameson Veritas
13 - The Obnoxious American
"He's also up to his ass in those pythons moving north from Florida (check out The Daily Show from last night.) "
Realize, the daily show isn't news and Jon Stewart isn't a journalist. What he did to Cramer isn't reporting or anything and as tucker carlson aptly states in his daily beast column today, there is no dotted line from Cramer's out of context comments and the current fiscal crisis.
I wouldn't be citing the Daily Show as a source if I were you.
14 - roger nowosielski
Very nice, lucid and fair-minded piece, Mark. Not enough to get my teeth into to discuss other matters (you know what), but still.
I left you a note on the other thread to visit Aetius's comment section. We need you there.
15 - Adam C. Sieracki
The REAL Scheißturm will happen when BO's administration kills the Bush FCC's whitespace reallocation decision. The National Association of Broadcasters had a conniption over this and is actually taking the U.S. government to court over the issue (as you said, you can't make this stuff up). The NAB poured tens of Millions into Obama's coffers... Millions of nerds won't get their high-speed wireless broadband and there's nothing scarier than a mob of angry geeks.
Also, Microsoft got it's money's worth in Obama campaign donations, when it got the big porkbarrel Medical Records contract. This is very similar to the Canadian Firearms Registry. THAT programme was supposed to cost CDN$20M, but wound up costing closer to $2BILLION (Liberal campaign donor Honeywell was one of the recipients of that IT contract largesse). With the Medical Records thing pegged at over U.S.$20B, American taxpayers should shudder to thing of what THOSE overruns are.
The thing I really hate about BO (I'm Canadian, BTW) is the fact that the media-telecom industry bought and paid for him, and are thus unwilling to criticise him. Presidents (e.g., Bush Jr. & Sr.) SHOULD be razzed by the media--that's their job. The worst example of this was reporting illegally-obtained records of 'Joe the Plumber', but dismissing any questions about BO's birth as "tinfoil-hatted racist crazy birther talk".
Also, why aren't there any cute "I remember baby Barack!" anecdotes? Why can't ANYONE (hospital staff, other patients) seem to recall a unusually-named mullatto boy, born to a young, Midwestern mother and a black father with a British accent, in early '60s Honolulu?
16 - roger nowosielski
A conservative Canadian? You must be an anomaly.
17 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Hey Doc,
From the "Bad" war to tax cuts...Do I really need to list them all?? You guys didn't seem to come up with lists when you were calling out GW.
18 - Dr Dreadful
Um. Adam.
How many 'I remember baby George/Bill/Ronnie/Jimmy/Dickie' stories are there?
Remember in your critical thinking classes when they talked about 'absence of evidence is not...'?
Yeah, well.
19 - Dr Dreadful
What about them, Guppy? Has he broken either of those pledges? Remember we like you to cite your sources around here.
20 - Dr Dreadful
And Adam...
'Shit tower'?
Scheiβsturm would've made sense...
21 - Forever Republican
I saw some mention of racism here. I just wanted to say I stand by this: I don't have problems with a black man being president. I just have problems with THAT black man being president. I am quite sure you can see the difference.
-Forever Republican
22 - Baronius
Mark, you don't have to puzzle out why the Right doesn't like Obama: he's doing the exact opposite of their platform. If a confident, intelligent black man set my hair on fire, I wouldn't be angry at his confidence, intelligence, or skin color. Just as it's the Right's responsibility to oppose (when necessary) with a sense of decorum, it's the Left's responsibility to not question our motives for doing so. Neither side's task is easy.
23 - roger nowosielski
Nothing is forever, Forever - unless you're God.
24 - Adam C. Sieracki
[quote]Scheiβsturm would've made sense...[/quote]
Duly noted! :o (My arthritis is getting the better of my touch typing...)
I'm 'conservative' about things like gun control, abortion (not contraception), euthanasia...but I think that gay marriage is okay. Marriage is an institution for facillitating the rrais ing of children, nothing more. There are a lot of non-productive hetero 'marriages' (people who plan never to have kids), so why not allow gay people to share property rights, &c. At any rate, homosexuals like MEN--not like those creepy Islamist pederasts we're fighting. Vermont, actually, looks like a nice place, but it's no warmer than Alberta...
I suspect that 'they' (the financial backers of the Democrats) picked a bi-racial candidate, to insulate him from attacks by conservatives (it'd be 'racist', after all). Racism isn't really an issue. (Many an old, white republican probably fantasises about being married to President Condoleeza Rice.)
I think BO's a good BSer and nobody thought to check his background. I Wonder if he even made up the whole "I travelled to Pakistan" thing...
25 - roger nowosielski
We all know he came from checkered background.
What politician doesn't?
Get over it.